Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 13 November 2012, stating that backdating the home-makers scheme to 1953 would cost the Exchequer in the region of €160 million and 1973, an estimated €150 million, if this is an annual cost; and the number of people that would be effected by the introduction of such a change. [4071/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The State pension is a very valuable benefit and the bedrock of the pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the social insurance fund over their working lives.

The homemaker’s scheme makes qualification for the contributory State pension easier by disregarding time spent out of the workforce on caring duties. The scheme was introduced in and took effect from 1994. Eligibility for the scheme is conditional on, first, meeting the standard qualifying conditions for State pension.

As previously stated, backdating the scheme would involve considerable costs. The 2007 Green Paper on pensions indicated that to back-date the homemakers scheme to 1953, the year when the unified system of social insurance was introduced in Ireland, would cost the Exchequer in the region of €160 million and to 1973, an estimated €150 million. These were immediate annual costs at the time of publication of the Green Paper. It is difficult to determine exact numbers, given the absence of information on those involved, including their family circumstances, work and insurance records. These costs took into account the likelihood that any backdating would go towards improving the position of those already in receipt of reduced payments or a qualified adult payment. The cost of the scheme, under current rules, is expected to increase in the coming years owing to the increase in female employment rates since 1994.

While my Department will keep the homemakers scheme under review, improvements which could result in further costs for the Exchequer could only be considered in a budgetary context where our financial position as a country had improved significantly.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The people affected by this are overwhelmingly women and worked in the public sector. The ones most hard done by are the ones who were forced to leave because of the marriage bar in the Civil Service. The Minister may be aware of a SIPTU campaign to highlight this issue. Prior to Christmas, several of its members highlighted their own personal testimonies on how they were affected. In one case, a woman who worked in Aer Lingus was forced to leave because of the marriage bar. The Minister stated consideration will not be given to the issue at this time. I urge her to look again at this matter. Does she know the number of people who will be affected by this over the next several years? As we have an aging population, I would assume that figure will be reducing

I too wish to express my and my party's sympathy to the family and colleagues of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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An analysis undertaken in the 2007 Green Paper on pensions, published by the previous Government, identified that to backdate the payment to 1953 when the current pensions system was introduced would cost €160 million. Even backdating the payment to 1973 would still involve substantial costs. I propose to keep this under review. However, I have to be honest with the Deputy. Every year social welfare pays out an extra €200 million to €300 million in pensions because we, happily, have many more older people living longer. With this increased population in retirement, I would find it difficult with the current budgetary restrictions to find an extra €160 million per year to cover the homemakers scheme. I will keep this issue under constant review.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister has addressed my question. The key point is that society is moving forward and trying to address inequalities from the past. This matter is one of those inequalities. We should take the earliest opportunity to address it; it should not be just a matter of whether we can afford it. Equality in our society comes at a cost. In this case, it is a substantial cost but we must find a way of coming around this. The SIPTU campaign suggested a 1964 cut-off date rather than going back to 1953. There would not be much of a difference in the costs for these two dates. This matter must be kept under review.